Petition to Goa Governor over Tejpal case

Panaji: The probe into allegations of rape against Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal should be shifted from the Crime Branch and that BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi should be arrested, a petition submitted to the Goa governor said.

The petition was submitted Wednesday by a city lawyer and former head of the National Students Council of India (NSUI) Sunil Kawthankar. He had also filed a complaint against Lekhi at the Crime Branch for leaking the name of the journalist woman, who accused Tarun Tejpal of sexual assault, on Twitter.

The petition said that a key officer heading the Tejpal case has handled "quite a few high profile cases" in the past, but claims that most of the cases did not end in conviction.

Kawthankar further claimed that the officer was part of the Crime Branch unit which has been indicted by a House Committee report on drugs for not doing enough to nip the drug mafia in Goa in the bud.

"Such an officer cannot be relied upon to investigate such a sensitive case as it is feared that the victim may get a raw deal at her hands," according to the petition.

The explosive House Committee report which was tabled in the state legislative assembly exposes a nexus between police, politicians and the drug mafia in Goa.

It has said that the several Crime Branch officers who were entrusted with probing key cases related to narcotics trade were hand-in gloves with drug dealers.

The petition also sought action under section 228(A) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)against Lekhi for being insensitive to the sentiments of the woman journalist and said that a complaint filed by him against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader had not been taken cognizance of by the Crime Branch.

"Lekhi is a senior BJP Leader and the state government which is ruled by BJP will try to protect her by all means. I, thereby, request you to intervene in this matter and order her arrest as such an act must be dealt with Iron fist in order to serve as a deterrent and to protect the respect and sentiments of Indian women," the petitioner has said.